A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to vehicle bed liners, more particularly, to sprayable bed liners and methods of manufacturing the same.
B. Description of the Related Art
As a way to protect pickup truck beds, a sprayable, rapidly curing, polymer coating is applied to the painted or e-coated surface. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,925,466 and 5,814,398 which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. These sprayed on linings provide several advantages over the widely used preformed plastic liners. The preformed plastic linings generally do not form a tight seal between the truck bed and the liner, which allows water and dirt to intrude in between the liner and the bed. Water and dirt buildup can eventually lead to abrasion of the paint and corrosion of the truck bed. Sprayed on liners (e.g., polymer coatings) adhere to the surface of the truck bed, effectively sealing it from water and dirt. Rapid curing sprayed on liners allow the product to be sprayed on vertical and other non-horizontal surfaces. Areas that do not require the sprayed on liner, or must not have any build up of the sprayed on liner (e.g., cab rear glass window, tie downs, etc.), however, require trimming or masking those areas to prevent the sprayed on liner from adhering to those surfaces.
Trimming of the cured product is difficult and time consuming. Trimming with a sharp blade or similar device can score through the paint or e-coat applied to the pickup bed. Scoring allows moisture to be in contact with the bare metal substrate which would be a prime site for corrosion to begin. Furthermore, as sprayed on liner materials tend to cure to a hard tough coating, trimming generally must be performed before the sprayed on liner fully cures.
Masking off areas to prevent the sprayed on liner from adhering to those surfaces also has its difficulties. At least partially due to the fast curing nature of sprayed on liners, if masking tape is removed too long after the bed liner is sprayed, the cured layer on top of the tape will effectively prevent it from being removed. If the masking tape is removed before the material is fully cured, a jagged appearance along the edge of the sprayed on liner can result.
One solution to this problem is to mask with edge trimming tape. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,045 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Edge trimming tape contains a wire which, when pulled up through a semi-cured material, cuts the material and leaves a clean edge. Edge trimming tape works well for long, straight, and semi-straight areas, but holes and odd shapes are problematic due to their shape and size. Also, because the edge trimming tape needs to be pulled up before the sprayable bed liner is fully cured, there is a finite period of time that the de-masking can take place. If the edge trimming tape is left until the coating is fully cured, the removal of the tape is difficult if not impossible.
Moreover, to provide clean edges for a desirable appearance, trimming with a blade, conventional masking, and masking with edge trimming tape, all need to be done shortly after the material is sprayed (i.e., prior to substantial curing).
To date, substantially all of the sprayable bed liners have been done by after market shops. Companies such as Rhino Linings® spray bed liners one truck bed at a time, with the masking, spraying and de-masking taking several hours. Using this process in an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) manufacturing plant, however, is not feasible due to the considerable amount of time and labor required. Thus, to apply a sprayable bed liner in an automobile manufacturing plant, a need exists for a method of masking or trimming that is fast to apply, flexible enough to be able to be removed after curing, and leaves a good appearance.
The present invention is directed to overcoming or at least reducing the effects of one or more of the problems set forth above and other problems in the prior art.